DEVELOPMENT OF AN ANALYTICAL MODEL FOR TREATING BRIDGE-VEHICLE INTERACTION

In order to check the capacity of existing bridges to heavier traffic and for proper design of new bridges, bridge engineers require improve d analytical techniques which consider bridge-vehicle interaction. Thi s paper treats the development of such an interaction model incorporat ing the dynamic effects of moving vehicles. The bridge superstructure is idealised as a two-dimensional grillage, while the three-dimensiona l vehicle model has 7 degrees-of-freedom and is capable of accommodati ng both roll and pitch. The proposed system enables the bridge to be e xcited by an asymmetric forcing action. The entire procedure for the i nteraction of the bridge-vehicle system is implemented as an anlytical computer package, able to investigate the influences of various param eters which contribute to the behaviour of a bridge-vehicle system. (C ) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.